Fruit or vegetable crate.



"No. 737,259. PATENTED AUG. 25, 1903.

. G E. & J. 0. MANSFIELD. I

FRUIT 0R VEGETABLE CRATE.

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APPLICATION FILED OUT. 10, 1902.

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Patented August 25, 1903.

, joAss-IUs MANSFIELD, 0F RAVENNA, MICHIGAN, AND JOHN -o. M MANSFIELD, oF oLEvE AND, OHIO.

FRUIT OR- VEG ETAB LE CRATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 737,259, dated August 25, 1903.

Application filed October 10, 1902I Serial Nol26,663. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CASSIUS E. MANS- FIELD, a resident of Ravenna, county of Muskegon, State of Michigan, and JOHN 0.1VIANS- FIELD, aresident of Cleveland, county of Guyahoga, State of Ohio, citizens of the United States, have invented jointly certain new and; useful Improvements in Fruit and Vegetable Crates, of which we hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to improvementsrin shipping-crates; and the objectsof the inven'- tion are to provide a partially knockdowncrate which is adapted for shipping fruit or vegetables which will be strong and service.

able, will not injure delicate fruit, and is ventilating in construction.

Our invention consists in a rectangular base portion formed of terminal bars upon which transverse slats are nailed and sufficiently.

separated'toprovide for ventilation. Upon the bottom portion are raised the sides which are secured to corner vertical posts, and the ends are then secured to the sides by nailing. The sides and ends are also provided with ventilating-openings.

Our invention is hereinafter further described, shown in the drawings accompanying, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

tion, having one edge rectangular, the sides and ends being nailed to the adjacent sides of the rectangle, thus presenting the longer side to the'interio'r of the crate, which gives a smooth face for the contents of the crate to make contact with. The sides [5, having the corner-posts 4 attached, are first raised into position and the ends 6 are nailed to the posts. The bottom is then securely attached by means of metal strips 7, which are nailed or otherwise secured to the bars 1 and to the cornerposts 4: through the slats or siding. The sides, ventilated bottom 2, and ends may also each be formed in one piece slotted for ventilation, as indicated in Fig. 3.

' In order to prevent the sharp edges of the slats from injuring the-perishable contents of the crate, they are beveled on the inner side, as atS, where they would be apt to make contact "therewith, thus forming substantially Y-shaped slots between the slats.

The parts can be laid one over the other to form a suitable package for shipment and .fin'ally put together to inclose the fruit or vegetables.

This device is simple, serviceable, and of slight initial cost.

. air space 10 below, between the terminal bars,

so that one crate can be placed above another in shipping perishable goods and there will be free access of air between them to preserve the contents and prevent crushing.

claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a crate, the combination with a bot tom comprising a rectangular frame, of a ventilating false bottom resting on the firstnamed bottom, a crate-body having ventilat ing-walls,metallic cleats engaging the outside of the body and having bent portions so as to clamp the false bottom between the said rectangular bottom and the crate-body, and triangular corner-posts secured in the corners of the body and bearing on .the false bottom,

oAssIUs E. MANsFIELD- JOHN o. MANSFIELD.

Witnesses:

WM. M. MONROE, A. H. GEBERT.

. 1s Having described our invention, what we 

